By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard is getting national attention for her alleged corruption. Spending public money on lavish travel and dining. Launching police raids on “uncooperative” businesses. Creating political billboards with taxpayer dollars, the list goes on.
But there’s another travesty in Dolton, and it revolves around the failure of the city’s schools to teach Dolton children to read and do math. It’s not corruption, but what’s happening there needs just as much attention.
Check out the results in the two elementary school districts in the Dolton area. One is district 149, enrollment 2,200. Only 10% of kids there can read at grade level and in math, just 6% are at grade level.
In District 148, with an enrollment of 1,900, it’s just as bad. Reading and math proficiency is at 14% and 6%, respectively.
And the high school where most Dolton kids go? At Thornton Township 205, it’s 8% reading and 5% math proficiency. (Wirepoints has created a report card for every single school in Illinois. Click here to find your school.)
All those results are beyond dismal, but the system’s rating of itself hardly reflects that. Eleven of the 17 schools across Dolton are rated “commendable” and 88% and 97% percent of teachers at the two districts are rated “excellent or proficient.”
And not only do the educators in Dolton rate themselves highly, they also compensate themselves highly, too.
The big winner among Dolton-area administrators is Dolton 148’s Superintendent Kevin Nohelty. His $479,783 in total compensation is the 2nd-highest of any k-12 educator in the state.
We recently laid out the top paid government workers and pensioners in our recent report: Illinois government’s $100K salary and pension club: 140,000 members and rising.
Dolton’s retired education administrators also receive considerable pension benefits on the taxpayer’s dime. The two districts’ top pensioners can expect to receive as much as $6 million over the course of their retirements.
Don’t think this “high-compensation/low-outcome” situation is happening just in Dolton. It’s the same story across many of Chicago’s south suburbs and other places across the state.
It’s unthinkable that Illinoisans vote for and put up with all this. But they do.
APPENDIX
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Illinois government’s $100K salary and pension club: 140,000 members and rising
- The evidence so far on Illinois’ ‘Evidence-Based Funding’ for K-12 schools: It’s a flop – Wirepoints Special Report
- New Trier School District set to produce next $8 million superintendent pensioner
- The big myth that needs debunking: Illinois needs more money for education – Wirepoints Special Report
- Poor student achievement and near-zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ public education system – Wirepoints Special Report
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
Audio and summary 
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Hmm, I smell the Democratic Party……
Side Note—Happy Fathers Day to all who are fathers. Enjoy the day!
Mostly from 2014 MPC research data, years ago there where discussions in press about Illinois being #1 in country for school administrative spending. This 2017 great Andy Shaw/BGA/Crains article puts Illinois school administrative costs at over $1 bil or $518 per student (twice the national average) in Illinois CRAZY 852 school districts. Who knows what the $spending is now in 2024 vrs 2014, but you can be assured it’s in outer-space….$$$EQUITY$$$? (https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170331/ISSUE07/170339970/illinois-schools-overspend-on-administrative-expenses-study): “Illinois’ 850 school districts—only two states have more—collectively spend more than $1 billion a year in administrative expenses, the most in the country by far. That’s $518 per… Read more »
Even more upsetting is the parent that sees their kid can’t read but doesn’t change a thing. There is a certain kind of culture going on here in that community. Their kids are hostages, and the parents seem to have given up. Great article exposing how community members get all upset over a corrupt mayor. But seem to be OK with how their kids are doing in general.
This is a great showing of what the public sector does to the taxpayers all over Illinois.
the problem is obviously SD-149 & HSD-205 aren’t getting enough EBF state funding formula $bucks$—–$$$EQUITY$$$!!!!
As a charter member of the “ usual gang
Of idiots”, just flush her and friends to start over if possible.
Just obscene. $400K+ for a School district sup with 1900 kids. $250K for assistant Sup. and all the rest. Same story we see year in and year out. There is no change, no reform of this stupidity. This entire industry needs a reset. As these grifters move from District to district gaining higher and higher salaries, it resets the bar and the school boards are too stupid to see it happening. They think they need to pay more and more for these PhD’s who have continuously produced poor results. The problem is the school boards who pay these grifters these… Read more »
Not too long back, my school district had a nationwide! superintendent search to replace the woke sup we ran out of town…they had several hundred applications. Of course they did, a government job that pays $300k a year plus a pension! And the board doubled down and hired an even woker sup to replace the wokester we parents ran out of town.
Agreed. The challenge I see also, is that once in the Illinois “system” these high paid Sup’s, Assistant Sup’s, Principals, etc. stay at one district for awhile, then look around, work the room (so to speak) and apply to other districts who have an open spot….then drive up the salary requirements paid by these moron board members. There is no downside to the process. These “educators” maintain their pension status from move to move. Also, School Boards don’t comment on performance of anyone really, so these folks can move around at will – drive up salary costs and pension costs.… Read more »
Your work isn’t done. Pitch the current one too.
The education system cannot reform from within. They never will. There’s a momentum within the industry to conform and keep going left, and they are resistant to any reforms whatsoever. And the school boards that oversee the educators seem themselves as partners and friends rather than overseers. I told a local school board member he was a bootlicker for doing everything the previous wokester super wanted. I asked him if there was even a single thing the wokester did that he didnt approve of….because, as the board member, YOU ARE HIS BOSS!
I think in most school districts, the board members are paid employees of, or consultants to, other school districts. Members aren’t paid, so who else is going to put up with all these board meetings and hostile parents? And it requires a certain amount of money and promotion to run a successful campaign. Unless all your potential opponents are too discouraged to run.
You make some good points, but there is something of a counter argument to be made that applies. Isn’t it true that CEOs for even small companies have generally the same concerns, duties, worries, and liability concerns as those of larger companies? Essentially they are very similar in what’s expected except that larger companies employ a wider range of subordinate managers. In some really small companies maybe their salaries should, and do, reflect that single-manager burden more than your “number of customers” viewpoint permits.
Couldn’t disagree more. I recall working with a global telecom client on a sticky economic and regulatory issue and because of their size could not adopt what notionally appeared to be a path of least resistance smaller firms were adopting because the impact would reverberate globally. Have you worked for a Fortune 20 corporation? A district with 1900 students? Much easier to manage than a large system.
Yes, but don’t discount the expertise and value of all those subordinate first-level managers who are acting in his direct behalf and presumably have more specific-area knowledge than does the general lone small-business CEO.
The basic problem is one of perspective. Public employees operate solely from the idea of need. Every school needs a librarian, a social worker, a social justice worker, etc, etc. Private employers must operate from the perspective of what they can actually afford. They must figure out how to effectively get the job done with the resources they can pay for. Otherwise, they go out of business.
You seem not not understand that my thoughts didn’t involve public employees in the msg to which you responded. It dealt with comparing a CEO of a large business where he/she has several subordinate knowledge-specific managers as compared to the small business CEO who has no such specialized subordinate managers.
I can’t begin to imagine how that true statement had any judgment on my part that would generate four down-votes. Are ANY of those people good readers or are they/you simply reacting to me personally as the target of choice without due regard to my actual statement?
There is a big difference between small/large private companies and public schools with supers and who knows how many assistant supers. In any private company we as consumers have a choice if we want to do business with them. For public schools we have no choice. If we own property or even rent we a forced to pay for public and all the bloated administration whether we use it or not. We can move if we want to and many do but that is difficult. Yet we must pay for the local schools and fund private schools if we chose… Read more »
Sure, Freddy, but that seems irrelevant to the subject and content of my immediate posting. Why post that now and here?
I thought you were talking about the subordinate managers in a company and comparing that to the supers of a district where they have many assistant supers to handle other responsibilities. Same for principals and their assistants. If I was mistaken my apologies.
The initial comment was about school districts, and I perhaps wrongly interpreted your comment in that light- as an attempted analogy to small companies and large companies.
My reading comprehension in general is just fine, but I appreciate your concern.
Or I guess I should have considered another possibility. Since the article and comment were about school districts, I could have just concluded a comment about CEOs of large and small companies was completely irrelevant. My mistake- I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt.
I was simply comparing CEO responsibilities, worries and potential legal liabilities for a large business vs. a small business in the posting where those down-votes appeared. Prior to that I made a statement of a similar nature but regarding large school districts vs. small school districts. Again, the superintendent in each case makes the calls as to how the district works in the myriad of ways needed to do its mission according to laws, worker contracts and community values—in concert with input from his/her Board of Education’s expectations. As I see it, compensation of any school superintendent should not be… Read more »
Thank you, and I especially appreciate your politeness here where so many are hatefully stated.
I try to be polite. On the other hand, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been called a moron by someone here who resorts to that instead of defending a position. But I do try to lead with courtesy.
This shouldn’t be down voted! Public sector vs private business. Many idiots surf here down voting common sense.
James -,I don’t understand your point. In a district of 1900, you need only a handful of managers and there is not much complexity to manage. 400k is a tremendous salary for a school with these results and its size. I think corporate America has an excessive compensation problem which no bats an eye talking about. (It is really a symptom of weak governance). There should be no hesitation discussing it in the school context.
I’ve “been there and done that” on this topic and not interested enough likely to engage further about it. Believe what you choose to believe.
Traditionally, public employees would be paid substantially less but have a safe and secure job, they would eat bologna sandwiches and break out the Kools @2 packs a day, get home and watch Barnaby Jones and die at 62. This social contract and original construct is now over and besides the Southern “right to work” states the Northern states (including leftist California) have made the taxpayers feel guilty that these public employees were “mission essential” by race shaming, screaming racism, class warfare to promote a full blown race war. Unions have grown stronger and quality has hit all time lows… Read more »
I guess the difference to me between a CEO of a for profit company and the Superintendent of a government funded school district is that the CEO of the for profit company may be responsible for increases in profitability that grow the company and enhance the employees earning opportunities. While the Superintendent can only show value by somehow improved results/performance by the students. The CEO results are easily determined, the Superintendent results are less so and in most cases (certainly in Illinois) poor. Ultimately it is a results oriented measurement and I don’t think the results in school districts are… Read more »
Your salary comment seems to be meaningless to the school boards who CHOOSE to do otherwise. If you’re willing to do what it takes to be a doer instead of a complainer from your lounger run to be a school board member or at least actively promote another person of your choice in doing that. Not doing either renders your opinion essentially worthless.
Oh I see. Its my own fault that the state of Illinois and school districts are terrible. Well, think what you want and I can too. My comment is of course meaningless to you because it is true. Have a great day.
I didn’t say your statement was false. I only said you choose to do battle from the comfort of your lounger rather than getting into the fray personally. Consequently, your views are of little consequence, another true statement. The votes that count are those who do the hiring. You’re simply howling into the winds.
We all get into the fray, it’s called voting. Which I’m sure nearly all of us here do. But in this state we are outnumbered by crazy people, and that’s why the state objectively sucks.
Smart people know to vote for Biden. Illinois voters outnumber the Trump crazy loser voters. He’s a convicted felon loser and only trash will vote for him. Time to put on a jumpsuit that matches his Cheeto skin.
IL seems to have a bottomless pit of no account, scum politicians. Notably nearly all Democrats.
Black privilege
At the core of everything is elections. The majority of Illinois residents aren’t concerned enough to get out and vote or to vote for better alternatives. The creators of the United States gave us no fix for voter stupidity or apathy; however, they did provide a safeguard against this situation. They gave us the freedom to move among the states. Failing Illinois schools are only a problem if you live in Illinois. Ridiculous Illinois income and property taxes to pay for failing schools is only a problem if you live in Illinois. WP readers can learn a lesson from all… Read more »
In the Founding Era, only property owners were permitted to vote. Thus they had at least a minimal level of economic competence and a stake in the outcome. Much lessens the “stupidity or apathy” problem.
They were wise.
Voting should be limited to citizens who pay taxes. If you’re on the dole or a guest of the state (incarcerated) you should not have the right to vote.
Taxpayers bear the burden of ill-advised voters.
Maybe it isn’t corruption, but malfeasance and incompetence do come to mind. As do shameful and disgusting.